Victim mother speaks out against death penalty

  Wednesday, October 16, 2013 2:00 AM
  News

Pittsburg, KS

Vicki Schieber, the mother of a young woman who was raped and murdered, will share her unique and very personal perspective on the death penalty at Pittsburg State University on Tuesday, Oct. 22. Schieber will speak at 6:30 p.m. in the Sharon K. Dean Recital Hall in McCray Hall.

In 1998, Schieber’s 23-year-old daughter, Shannon, was raped and murdered during her first year at the University of Pennsylvania. Four years later, Shannon’s killer was captured in Colorado, where he confessed to the murder and a string of rapes in Philadelphia and Fort Collins, Colo.

Prosecutors in Philadelphia wanted to seek the death penalty for the man, but Schieber and her husband publicly opposed the prosecutors’ plans because such punishment was inconsistent with their Catholic faith. Shannon’s murderer was convicted and is currently serving multiple life sentences in prison.

Since her daughter’s death, Vicki Schieber has taken her anti-death-penalty message to more than 20 states. She serves as the education coordinator for the Catholic Mobilizing Network to End the Use of the Death Penalty and is chair of the Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights’ board of directors.

Schieber is the recipient of the Fannie Mae Foundation Good Neighbor Award, the Courage in Community Award of the McAuley Institute Board of Trustees and the Exceptional Community Spirit Award from Rebuilding Together of Washington, D.C. She is co-editor of “Where Justice and Mercy Meet: Catholic Opposition to the Death Penalty.”

Schieber’s PSU visit is sponsored by Social Work Plus, the Justice Studies Student Association, and Young Americans for Liberty at Pittsburg State University.